This invention relates to the disproportionation of olefin hyrocarbons.
By disproportionation is meant the conversion of an olefin hydrocarbon to a product having a different number of carbon atoms. In one aspect, this involves the reaction of two similar molecules to give a mixture of products having respectively a greater and a lesser number of carbon atoms than the starting material. For instance, two molecules of 4-vinylcyclohexene react to give bis-cyclohexenylethylene and ethylene. In a second embodiment, a cyclic olefin and a second olefin serve as feed components to give cleavage of the cyclic olefin which may result in either different products or, assuming the conversion is complete a single product as for instance in the reaction of ethylene and 1,5,9-cyclododecatriene to give 1,5-hexadiene. In a third aspect, a mixture of olefins as for instance 1-hexene and 1-octene react to give 5-decene, 5-dodecene, and 7-tetradecene.
In these reactions, it is readily apparent that the presence of olefinic materials carries with it the constant potential for formation of undesirable polymeric products which both reduce the production levels of the desired products and cause plugging of the reaction equipment. These polymeric products may be formed from the starting reactants, intermediates formed during the reaction or the final product or any combination thereof.